Where did things go wrong? Well there are various reasons that can be attributed to the issue of over-consumption. The first reason could be blamed on the introduction of the shopping cart in the early 40's by Sylvan Goldman. The introduction of the shopping cart allowed consumers to buy more. Previously, customers would only buy enough goods that they could carry by themselves. After its introduction, people were simply able to buy more goods than they would normally have bought if they could only buy the items they could carry by car.
Just as the name implies, we consume way too many resources. For example, the US only has 5% of the world but US consumption uses more than 1/3 of the worlds total resources. It has been stated that if the entire world consumed the same amount resourced as the US, we would require between 3 to 5 earths to be able to sustain that amount of consumption. The reason I used the image below is that it is a visual representative of just how much resources the world would need to copy the American consumption habit.
A major reason that we consume so much stuff is due to the fact that businesses use so much advertisement to get people to consume more. One must also note that we are not thought of as being citizens but instead as consumers in the eyes of businesses. Below are some facts about advertisements.
By the age of 20, a person would have seen more than 1,000,000 ads.
Around 66% of newspapers and 40% of the mail we receive is composed of ads.
60% of Americans say that their children are not just materialistic but are very materialistic
Children are the fastest growing segment of the consumer market
If companies target younger kids = More $$$ now and in the future
Having our product = happiness
One of the most scary things in regards to over-consumption is that businesses are doing a great, although it is very bad, job at convincing the next generation, children, to buy things that they would not need in the first place. Below are some facts about how business target children.
kids have to watch channel 1 in school. As such, companies find it a great way to get children to watch their commercials.
Corporations make deals with schools in which corporations provide money that the school needs. In return, the corporations are allowed to place their advertisements within the school
- Advertise logos on school rooftops
- Advertise logos on school buses
- Provide reading material, by the corporations, that say their products are good
One of the solutions is the change the way that economic growth or GDP is calculated. Currently, it does not matter what occurs as long as people are consuming more because it equates to economic growth. Even if a family divorces, there will be an increase to the GDP but at the same time the family itself is in ruins. GDP does not care for anything else but the amount that people spend.
Instead, if we use a new calculation that accounts for more than just income, family happiness or family health, then the burden of having to consume more will be lessened. However, I doubt that we will no longer use GDP to calculate economic growth simply because we have used it for so long. Additionally, changing GDP will affect so many different aspects of our society that we may not want to change it.
Another idea is that we can target commercials simply because they are one of or the main reasons that we as a society like to consume so much. The movie, Affluenza, shows that uncommercials can be used as the way to combat the damages that arise from commercials. Uncommercials are the exact opposite of commercials in that they tell the truth or do not sugarcoat the issue. One such example is that a uncommercial would say "9 out of 10 women are not satisfied with their bodies." Sadly, this great idea has been prevented from seeing the light of day because they are not placed on TV. All the networks in North America do not allow uncommercials, even if they are paid for the airtime to show these uncommercials, to be aired.
Some other possible solutions:
Make things last longer instead of obsolescence (perceived and built in)
Design products with Cradle to the Grave mentality
Show me the environment / Show the me damage
- go camping, mountain climbing or something nature related to connect people to the environment
- go to the landfill and show all the damage that are caused by over consumption/overproduction
Volunteer Simplicity
Charge for the use of Shopping carts / paper bags
Pay more when you buy more
Price goods more accordingly based on production cost/environmental footprint/ labor
Go to thrift store or garage sales
Use goods longer / repair them
Sources
Affluenza. Dir. John D.Graaf and Vivia Boe. DVD. Bull Frong Films, 1997.
Over-consumption
Where did things go wrong? Well there are various reasons that can be attributed to the issue of over-consumption. The first reason could be blamed on the introduction of the shopping cart in the early 40's by Sylvan Goldman. The introduction of the shopping cart allowed consumers to buy more. Previously, customers would only buy enough goods that they could carry by themselves. After its introduction, people were simply able to buy more goods than they would normally have bought if they could only buy the items they could carry by car.
Just as the name implies, we consume way too many resources. For example, the US only has 5% of the world but US consumption uses more than 1/3 of the worlds total resources. It has been stated that if the entire world consumed the same amount resourced as the US, we would require between 3 to 5 earths to be able to sustain that amount of consumption. The reason I used the image below is that it is a visual representative of just how much resources the world would need to copy the American consumption habit.
A major reason that we consume so much stuff is due to the fact that businesses use so much advertisement to get people to consume more. One must also note that we are not thought of as being citizens but instead as consumers in the eyes of businesses. Below are some facts about advertisements.
One of the most scary things in regards to over-consumption is that businesses are doing a great, although it is very bad, job at convincing the next generation, children, to buy things that they would not need in the first place. Below are some facts about how business target children.
One of the solutions is the change the way that economic growth or GDP is calculated. Currently, it does not matter what occurs as long as people are consuming more because it equates to economic growth. Even if a family divorces, there will be an increase to the GDP but at the same time the family itself is in ruins. GDP does not care for anything else but the amount that people spend.
Instead, if we use a new calculation that accounts for more than just income, family happiness or family health, then the burden of having to consume more will be lessened. However, I doubt that we will no longer use GDP to calculate economic growth simply because we have used it for so long. Additionally, changing GDP will affect so many different aspects of our society that we may not want to change it.
Another idea is that we can target commercials simply because they are one of or the main reasons that we as a society like to consume so much. The movie, Affluenza, shows that uncommercials can be used as the way to combat the damages that arise from commercials. Uncommercials are the exact opposite of commercials in that they tell the truth or do not sugarcoat the issue. One such example is that a uncommercial would say "9 out of 10 women are not satisfied with their bodies." Sadly, this great idea has been prevented from seeing the light of day because they are not placed on TV. All the networks in North America do not allow uncommercials, even if they are paid for the airtime to show these uncommercials, to be aired.
Some other possible solutions:
Sources
Affluenza. Dir. John D.Graaf and Vivia Boe. DVD. Bull Frong Films, 1997.
"Shopping Cart". Wikipedia. 4/202010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_cart>.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: Harper Perennial, 2001.
Image - http://www.buddycom.com/animal/envirimg/footprint/5earths.jpg